Annihilation Should Be the Next Big Marvel Cinematic Universe Crossover

With Avengers: Endgame finally behind us, fans are asking "What will the next Marvel Cinematic Universe event be?" For some, it could be Annihilation. With Spider-Man: Far From Home set to be the capstone of Marvel Studios' Phase 3, we're looking forward to what the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will look like. Marvel fans have been given small tastes of what the cosmic side of things look like and with the past ten years focusing primarily on Earth-bound threats, it might be best for the next big in-universe crossover to head to the cosmos.

That's where Annihilation could end up coming into play, a fan-favorite cosmic tale. Written by Keith Giffen, the central Annihilation mini-series dealt directly with the invasion of the universe from Annihilus and his forces of the Negative Zone. On the surface, it might be a pretty far-fetched idea, but the MCU has been gradually growing more and more cosmic with each passing moving. With two Guardians of the Galaxy films under their belt and the last two Avengers movies dealing with inter-galactic travel, the idea of introducing an inter-dimensional threat is not all too foreign.

Now that the Disney and Fox merger has wrapped up, Marvel Studios has the live-action rights to Annihilus, so that's no longer an issue; it'd just be a matter of introducing one or two of the main players of the storyline — and it seems they're heading that direction.

The biggest player in the event is Richard Rider's Nova, a character that fans have been chomping at the bit to get in the universe. Reports earlier in the week suggest the studio has pushed a Nova film into development, which could mean as something as little as they've started taking pitches from potential writers and directors. Regardless, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige previously confirmed with Kevin Feige that Nova was a character that has "immediate potential" in the MCU.

With Annihilus and Nova both in the picture, the studio could fill in the rest of the cast with players that already exist in the MCU. For example, some reports have suggested that Quasar and Beta Ray Bill would be making their live-action debuts in Vol. 3, and they'd each fit in the cosmic team-up. In fact, Quasar appeared in the original mini-series anyway.

In terms of a plot, the story's already been introduced. With The Snap and its subsequent reversal, the concept of multiple realities came to life. If that's the case, they could introduce the Negative Zone as one of these alternate realities. After The Ancient One's description of the dangers of not returning Infinity Stones to their correct spots in time, there could be a scenario in which one of the realities allowed Annihilus to rise to power and grow his army. As supervillains would want, Annihilus could then decide to attempt taking over other existing realities.

It's not something that needs to be the size of Avengers: Endgame, but it could build up over the course of three or four movies. Lay the groundwork in a Guardians 3 post-credits scene and have it carry throughout Nova and another movie after that — Captain Marvel 2, perhaps?

Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are now in theaters while Spider-Man: Far From Home is set for release on July 2nd.

Are you hoping to see an Annihilation movie in the MCU at one point or another? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt!